There was an uproar recently when Facebook changed its privacy settings routine. This proves one thing:

There is an uproar when Facebook changes anything.

Most of the uproar seems to have been that the new default settings are, in the opinion of many, biased towards making more, rather than less, available to “Everyone.” Even the ACLU and the EFF joined in, as this report in the Vancouver Sun points out.

I find the critics’ reaction a bit over the top. The critics seem to assume that Facebook users will accept Facebook’s suggested defaults, which do in my opinion make the settings far too liberal.

Maybe many persons will, but, frankly, I think that is their problem, not Facebook’s. Somewhere along the line, folks who use computers need to also use their heads and realize that the internet is a public place.

The New York Times today had a good how-to for the new Facebook settings.

Oddly enough, I ran into the same problem the author of the article ran into: When I followed the link from Facebook’s annoying pop-up announcement/tutorial on the new settings, made some changes, and tried to save my changes, they did not save; I had to exit the tutorial and then go into the privacy settings from the “settings” link on the top right of my Facebook page to get the changes to take effect.

And I always remind myself when I’m doing stuff on Facebook or on my own blog that I’m doing it in public.